Cleveland Law Library Weblog

Ohio Supreme Court To Consider Employee Residency Laws

The Ohio Supreme Court has decided to tackle employee residency requirements that have been at issue in various communities in Ohio. Without consolidating the matters, the Court will hear separate arguments the same day in 2 cases involving the extent of home rule authority to require employees in Akron (Case No. 2008-0418) and Lima (Case No. 2008-0128) to live where they work. See our prior posts about the 1) the Akron and Lima appeals and 2) the original Summit County Common Pleas Court decision. Click here to read a report from the Toledo Blade that indicates 125 cities and 13 villages in Ohio have residency requirements.

Ohio Supreme Court to Amend Rules on Guardian Ad Litem

The Ohio Supreme Court has published a proposed a new Rule regarding the appointment and performance of guardians ad litem. This brand new rule would apply whenever a common pleas court judge appoints a guardian ad litem in a domestic relations, juvenile, or probate case. It would specify standards for responsibilities, training, and reporting and would require each Judge to issue a formal Order of Appointment to identify the role the guardian will play. After the time for public comment has closed, and the Court has taken an opportunity to make any necessary revisions, this rule would become new Rule 48 of the current Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio. According to the Ohio Supreme Court's Press Release, the Court is accepting proposed comments until June 10, 2008.

Judge Calabrese Sat on Ohio Supreme Court

According to a recent Ohio Supreme Court Press Release, Judge Anthony O. Calabrese, Jr. of our local Eighth District Court of Appeals, recently sat as a visiting judge on the Supreme Court of Ohio in the case of State of Ohio v. Christopher Mays, (No. 2007-1302), which involved a driver who was stopped when he went right of the road edge line. Mays' counsel challenged the stop as in conflict with a decision of the Third District Court of Appeals in State v. Phillips (Case No. 8-04-25). Reports indicate that Judge Calabrese was both honored and "humbled" by his appointment. The video of the oral argument in Mays can be found at the Supreme Court's website. The last time Judge Calabrese served as a visiting Judge at the Supreme Court was November of 2006.

Ohio AG Dann Likely Headed for Impeachment Proceedings

If the Democrats keep their promise, Ohio's Attorney General, Marc Dann, will soon be involved in impeachment proceedings. As of this weekend, they already stripped Dann of their party's 2006 endorsement of him for Attorney General, and the process is not going to stop there. Dann, who should be the State of Ohio's most ethical attorney, has admitted to having an extra-marital affair with a staffer in his office, where allegations of sexual harassment and other improper and allegedly illegal activities have been made. Although Dann has investigated at least some of this conduct, fired offending employees, and started implementing new policies regarding email and office decorum, (see the AG website) he refuses to step down voluntarily as others have done.  The AG website outlines all of the steps Dann has taken with regard to other employees, but because Dann has not addressed his own conduct, his fellow-party Democrats, including Ohio Governor Strickland, have asked him to resign. Failing that, which Dann has so far refused to do, the Democrats are planning to impeach him. Click here to read the Plain Dealer article, and click here to read an article from the Columbus Dispatch.

PACER Is Adding Transcripts-N.D. of Ohio to Make Them Available

The latest news from PACER is that transcripts will soon be available to the general public that have registered for access. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has issued a Press Release that outlines the process whereby transcripts will be posted after a 90-day waiting period to allow for redactions for personal identifiers, which include social security numbers, financial account numbers, birth dates, names of minor children, and in criminal cases, home addresses. In addition, click here to read about the new software from our local federal court that will allow you to download multiple docket entries into a single pdf file.

Sheffield Woman Cannot Keep 90 Cats

The Sheffield Lake City Council has voted not to allow a woman to keep 90 cats in her home. Although the resident claims that she treats her cats as well as she does her children, section 505.20 of the Sheffield Lake ordinances prohibits residents from housing more than 4 cats at any one location. The City of Sheffield Lake has given the woman 20 days to find new homes for the extra cats or face daily fines of $150.00. Click here to read a newsnet5.com article about the cats and City Council vote.

Ohio Bar Results Are Out

The Ohio Supreme Court has just released the February 2008 bar exam results. Overall, the pass rate was 65.5%, but the rate for first-timers was 83%. The list of all of the successful candidates can be found at the Supreme Court's website and is searchable by last name, resident city, county, state or law school. The Court will administer the oath to all of these individuals at 2:00 p.m. on May 12th. Click here to read the Court's Press Release.

Myers University to Be Sold

Myers University, which graduates paralegals who take jobs in Cleveland and surrounding communities, will soon be purchased by a Connecticut firm that intends to invest $2 million to keep the school alive. As you may remember, Myers' President, Richard Scaldini, announced in December that Myers would be closing within a few weeks. Although Myers offers other programs, it has to compete with various other paralegal programs in the area offered by Ursuline College, Lakeland, and Stautzenberger. Click here to read an article about the sale from newsnet5.com.

Cuyahoga County Employee Admits to Stealing from Employment and Family Services

Cuyahoga County can't seek to catch any breaks lately. The latest scandal reported by the news media is that a county employee named Juanita Myrick just pleaded guilty to stealing over $864,000 from the Cuyahoga County Department of Employment and Family Services. Newsnet5.com reported that she set up a P.O. box to funnel unclaimed funds to herself. Clevescene reported that the money came from clients who did not receive their welfare checks. Juanita was indicted almost a year ago on May 25, 2007 in Case No. CR-07-496493-B on charges of theft, aggravated theft, theft in office, forgery, forging identity cards, ID fraud, tampering with records, and the unauthorized use of property/computer system.She recently plead and is awaiting sentence.

Alleged Speeders May Get a Break

Alleged speeders may get a break under a new decision issued by Ohio's 9th District Court of Appeals. On Monday, that Court reversed a $100 ticket issued to a truck driver who was allegedly going 67 in a 55 mph. zone on I-71. The Court's decision in Case No. 07CA0018-M hinged on the fact that no expert had established that the laser gun was accurate during lower court proceedings in Medina Muni Court. The Court specifically noted that the Muni Court was not authorized to take judicial notice of the scientific accuracy of the device under Rule 201 of the Ohio Rules of Evidence. According to the Court, Rule 201 would allow for judicial notice to be exercised only if the trial court, in a reported opinion, or the direct appellate court, in a reported or unreported opinion, had determined that the device was scientifically accurate. Neither court had issued such an opinion before the truck driver's case went up on appeal in this case. Interestingly, as an aside, the Appeals Court noted that it accepted the driver's statement of the facts inasmuch as the Medina Municipal Prosecutor failed to file an appellate brief. Click here for a brief article about the decision from newsnet5.com.